I Finally Found The Ultimate Magnum Bar!! (And Paris)!!!

So, I don’t know how many of those of you reading have ever tried riding trains all day long while also in the middle of your first cold/sinus infection for the year.  If you have, you understand how completely sucky it is.  I guess I am allergic to Europe.  After sneezing myself into a tizzy on multiple occasions, I found myself with a sudden onset sore throat in Berlin, which quickly escalated into a full blown sinus infection (that is what I am classifying it as, since I took sinus infection Tylenol and it seemed to help.)  After being a bumski for most of Berlin, I was hoping that the 8 hour train ride to Paris would give me a chance to rest and recover without taking away from our awesome sight-seeing opportunities.

I feel as terrible as I look.

Waking up with a throbbing sinus headache, sore throat, and multiple sneezing fits, I boarded a crowded train, much to the delight of my cabin-mates (oh, how they loved the coughing, phlemy, snotty me.)  Turns out, our reserved super fast ICE train was in the “shop,” so we were on a much slower normal train.  We shared a small cabin with several German Jodi’s (they all reminded me of my mom and her friends), who we were able to figure out were on their way for a week long girls’ trip in Baden Baden (an area known for their resorts.)  I’m sure they were THRILLED I was in their cabin, and Jodi #1 had about 5 minutes of my sniffling before handing me a package of Kleenex and telling in broken English that she didn’t need them, and that she hoped I felt better.  I took some of my beloved Tylenol Sinus and slept my way through most of the train ride, missing the announcement that we were behind schedule.  Turns out we were 1.5 hours behind schedule, causing us to miss our connection to Paris.  Blake, knowing I was about worthless at this point, found out from some other American tourists, an alternate route into Paris, requiring us to connect 3 more times.  I took some more medicine and continued feeling terrible.  We stopped in the first station, and Blake’s eagle eye saw the name of the city we needed next.  Seeing everyone else running to terminal FOUF! (5), I insisted that we follow suit, causing us to miss our next connection (in my defense, the information Blake was given on the train was faulty and according to his new itinerary, we had 30 minutes to find the next train….not true..we had 2 minutes.)  At that point, I was ready to cry.  My head was pounding and I had used all my tissues.  Blake wisely set me down near the terminal, and went in the office, reserving us NEW tickets into Paris, and buying me a Coca Cola Light (yes, I’m off the wagon.)   We finally boarded our small train to the next city on the German/France border, boarded our first class cabin (yay!) on the next next train to Paris, and I slept my way into the city.  Our train actually had a few pick pocketers, which ended up getting kicked off the train in the middle of nowhere (there was randomly an announcement that there were “thieves” aboard the train and then we stopped and then we saw 2 people being left in the middle of a field.)   Our 8 hour train had turned into a 15 hour train ride, but Blake was able to quickly find our hotel upon arrival, and I was too exhausted to be impatient, so it was our smoothest arrival yet.

We found our teeny hotel and our teeny hotel room and immediately set off to find food.  We were STARVING.  It turns out that our area is quite happening (thanks Mike for helping us with that!), so we found an open café and had a delicious croque monsieur and wine (Blake did anyways, I didn’t want my liver to shut down).  It was actually very French seeming.  After eating, we headed back, and I passed out for my longest night of sleep yet.

The next day, I was actually feeling better, so we headed off for our first sight seeing opportunity of the day – the Rick Steve’s “Historic Paris” Tour.

My amazing tour guide-ing abilities. And Blake. And Notre Dame.

We started at Notre Dame, toured the inside, and walked all over that part of Paris, stopping to buy books at the

We love bookstores.

Shakespeare Book Company (which historically has, and still does, house poor authors while they work on their masterpieces, including Hemingway, Joyce, Stein, and others.)  Blake and I bought a couple of books (we’ve been reading a lot), and we ended our tour on Pointe Nouef, where we doubled back to Notre Dame for a delicious lunch of crepes.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance, I stupidly suggested we walk to the tower for the afternoon.  Turns out, it was not close.  At all.  Four miles later, we arrived at the base, and saw the longest line ever created by man.  We decided not to go up, and instead fell asleep in the lawn below.  I woke up after a while and watched some street performers practicing their routine involving soccer balls.  It was interesting, but the girl half of the act would get SUPER frustrated any time there was any mistake and drop kick her soccer ball and act like a general baby.

The Tower of Eiffel

After about 1 hour of this, Blake woke, just in time for them to make it completely through their routine mistake free!  He had no idea what I had been watching for the past 1 hour of my life, but that was ok.

We decided to go for a Fat Tire Bike Tour that night, which turned out to be a fantastic decision.  Remembering what Mike had told me about the propensity of tour guides to lie their asses off, I caught our guide in only one minor lie (we toured much of the same area our “Historical Paris” walking tour had covered earlier.)

I waved to all the people on the bridges and I got about a 66% return wave. I was proud of myself.

We ended the night drinking copious amounts of wine while on a boat riding through the Seine.  Oh yeah, and I saw Owen Wilson bike right by our group heading to the tiny island next to the Notre Dame Island!  I was staring at him, wondering where I knew him from and looking at the girl on the back of the bike.  By the time I realized who it was, he had passed.  I immediately interrupted our guide, but only me, Blake, and one other person had seen him.  Random, I know.  Our guide said that he was probably visiting Johnny Depp, who lives on that island – but who knows.  The guide was probably making that up, but I like to believe it was true.

DINNER!

The next day, we woke up starving, since our dinner the night before had been an ice cream cone and wine.  Note – Blake has pretty much put his insulin dependence in remission on this trip.  The sheer amount of walking and biking and general exercise we have gotten during this trip has rendered it impossible for him to keep up with his eating.  He has gone through all our granola bars and purchased some German equivalent – fondly known as “Corny’s,” which we have almost finished as well.  He woke up low blood sugar, so we found a pastry shop and had our usual breakfast of a sweet pastry and Coca Cola Light.

We found our way to the Orsay and fought the crowds of Asian tourists to see the Monets and Van Goghs.  When we finished, we walked nearby and toured Napolean’s tomb, which was relatively boring BUT the only place in Europe where I have found the epitome of all Magnum Bars – The double caramel.

DOUBLE CARAMEL MAGNUM BAR!!! I FOUND YOU!!

Ever since we arrived in Florence, I have been searching for these little bits of heaven.  Unfortunately, they are not as popular as they were during my first EuroTrip, being replaced by the vastly inferior Magnum Gold.  I have sampled multiple different kinds, vainly hoping to find the delicious caramel version with no luck….until the cafeteria in Napolean’s tomb.  There we bought the ice cream bar (deliciousness resulting from the order of flavors – chocolate, caramel, chocolate, ice cream, chocolate, caramel chocolate – recipe for awesome), and Blake agreed that these need to make it to the US.  Eventually, we found yet another park, where we set up our usual camp (purse and backpack pillows, books, water bottles) and fell asleep.

Sleepy Blake

At this point, we have slept in a park in every single city we have been in.  More than one park, usually.  After a while, we headed over to a bakery to purchase lunch (a cold quiche for me.  Boo.) and watched some little kids play little kid games (it’s amazing they can speak French!  So impressive! – also, we counted 15 children for 4 mom’s.  That is a high kid to mom ratio!  Also, also, Austin – we were in a business district and saw lots of men wearing suits.  I tried to pick out those who were your coworkers, but who knows if I was right.  I chose people who looked like you.)  We then went to Rodin’s Garden and headed out for dinner WHICH WAS AMAZING.  It was our first real dinner of the trip, and I am in love with duck.

We are now sitting on yet another bridge, watching a sunset, drinking red wine (and yes, I am typing on a laptop.)  There was a frightful moment when Blake and I were searching for a bathroom (SO HARD TO FIND), and we thought we might pee away the sunset, but hooray!  We made it.  (We also paid 8 euros for 2 beers in order to use a bathroom.)

The sunset is the other way. Unfortunately, we did not take a picture of it (sorry mom!) BUT! We did take this sweet picture of ourselves...

I have been secretly spying on the drama unfolding with the group of French college students next to me.  I can’t understand a word they are saying, but boy drama is a universal language.  There are two boys vying or the attention of one (rather mediocre) girl.  Guy one, who we will call Curly Hair is there with all his friends – and Guy two, who we will call Black Shirt, recently walked up and stole all Curly Hair’s thunder.  Black Shirt is playing the sexy, silent type whereas Curly Hair is being way too friendly and accessible…..AND….she just made out with Black Shirt.  He pulled the classic, hang back from the group and seal the deal for later in the evening move.  Sneaky.  Curly Hair loses.  Well, that was fun.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, and we have BIG plans.  They involve sitting in the grass all day.  Probably napping.

PS – Dogs in Europe are leash free!  They just trot along next to their owners with no leashes!  It’s amazing!  They also do not seem to be swayed by strangers.  I have tried to woo a few over to my side by petting them and no.  They are true Europeans.  Their tails don’t even wag.

Au Reviour for now!

Bye from the Knights! (GET IT??)